This book serves as a core textbook for courses in forensic science, evidence, and criminal law--examining the role of law and the rules of evidence. The goal is to explain criminal procedure and the means and methods of gathering and introducing competent evidence in the criminal justice process. The various sections provide an overview of the U.S. legal system, the steps from investigation to trial, the sentencing and the appeal processes, constitutional foundations of search and seizure, search warrant requirements, the use of interrogations and confessions, the role of the expert in the criminal justice process, the importance of ethics, and the history of wrongful convictions.

Elizabeth W. Hanes is an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Economics and International Studies from the University of Richmond. Upon graduation, she worked in corporate finance for a Fortune 500 company in New York and then served as an Americorps VISTA volunteer, establishing a Child Advocacy Center in West Virginia. Four years later, she matriculated at the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law where she was a member of the University of Richmond Law Review, McNeill Law Honor Society, and Moot Court Board. She graduated summa cum laude. Following law school, Ms. Hanes served as a judicial law clerk to federal judges on the United States District Court and Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Ms. Hanes has been an Assistant Federal Public Defender for five years, representing individuals in federal criminal cases ranging from white collar crime to death-penalty eligible violent crimes. She also teaches a course in Forensic Evidence, Law and Procedure to undergraduate students at Virginia Commonwealth University. Mary E. Maguire is an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Office. She received her B.A. in Political Science and Spanish from Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont. (1986). After a two year stint working for the California State Assembly she went on the Georgetown University Law Center where she was a Public Interest Law Scholar, and a member of the International Environmental Law Review. She graduated with her J.D. in 1991. Mary has devoted the majority her legal career to public service as a public defender at the state and federal levels in California and Virginia. She has lectured on criminal defense topics at continuing legal education seminars and co-authored a chapter, The Fourth Amendment and the Exclusionary Rule, in the book Defending A Federal Criminal Case (1992 and 1995 editions). In 2013, she argued and won before the United States Supreme Court. (Alleyne v. United States). She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law teaching trial skills to second years students since 2004, and at Virginia Commonwealth University since 2013, teaching an introduction to criminal law and procedure for forensic scientists. Dale Mullen is a partner at McGuireWoods LLP and focuses his practice on clients needing innovative solutions for complex litigation, regulatory compliance, and legislative solutions. Dale has broad experience in federal, state and local government and represents professionals from a wide variety of industries and utilities. Dale is a veteran of the United States Navy where he received the Joseph W. Gregg award for leadership and served for over a decade in law enforcement investigating organized crime on local and federal task forces. He has held appointments as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney (SAUSA), Assistant Attorney General for the Commonwealth of Virginia, and county attorney. Dale graduated from Bluefield College summa cum laude, and from the University of Richmond, T.C. Williams School of Law, cum laude, where he served as an Associate Editor of the Law Review, member of the McNeill Law Honor Society, and member of the National Trial Advocacy Team. He has received awards as a Leader in the Law (2011), Legal Elite (2013, 2014), and in 2004 held one of the Top Ten Civil Defense verdicts in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He is recognized for his expertise in matters requiring expert testimony and scientific evidence, has testified as an expert witness, and serves on the